1831–1922

Overview

The Modern Studies on the Incarnation collection presents many of the defining late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century studies on the Incarnation of Christ. Thanks to such notable authors as Charles Gore, J. Armitage Robinson, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Modern Studies on the Incarnation interprets, translates, and contextualizes the Incarnation and its related topics. The collection’s 26 volumes and over 8,000 pages have had an enduring impact on our understanding of the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ.

This collection is essential for students, scholars, pastors, historians, teachers of the Bible, and anyone else studying the Incarnation of Christ. With Logos Bible Software, these volumes are completely searchable—Scripture passages appear on mouseover and link to your original language texts and English translations. For scholarly work or personal Bible study, this makes these volumes more powerful and easier to access than ever before. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform comprehensive searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “resurrection,” or “John 1:14.”

On the Incarnation of the Eternal Word

The object of On the Incarnation of the Eternal Word is to establish these two positions: first, that the Word was made flesh; and second, that he was not made sinful flesh. That the “Word was made flesh,” and that he was not made sinful flesh, are propositions which lie at the very foundations of Christianity. Marcus Dods gives a general outline of the work of human redemption, and of the offices of which Christ executes the accomplishment of that work, which enables the reader to see more distinctly the nature of the Incarnation. The second half of this work examines the first four centuries of Christianity, and the views of the early Fathers on the Incarnation.

This is a formidable volume, and the subject on which it is written is of the utmost importance to the permanent foundation of the whole Christian system.

—Imperial Magazine

His work is able, seasonable, deserving every way of serious perusal, evincing very sound and clear judgment, and careful and extensive reading, and it is written in a most cheering and edifying strain of Christian charity.

—Christian Guardian

Marcus Dods (1834–1909) was born in Belford, Northumberland. Dods went on to study divinity and theology at Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University, where he graduated in 1854. He is a highly respected scholar, publishing over a dozen books of theology recognized for their expansive critical research.

The Holy Christ-Child: A Devotional Study of the Incarnation of the Son of God

The object of The Holy Christ-Child is twofold: first, to present in a devotional manner the scene and story of the Nativity, secondly, to show forth in simple yet suggestive words the fact and doctrine of the Incarnation.

It is a truly devotional book, for its method is to bring the Word of life close home to the human heart.

—The Expository Times

Archibald Campbell Knowles (1865–1951) was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and ordained as a priest in 1899. He served as rector for St. Alban’s Church of Olney, Philadelphia. His works include On Wings of Fancy, Come Unto Me, and The Practice of Religion.

The Incarnation and Recent Criticism

The purpose of the following pages is to review the methods and findings of negative criticism on the Incarnation, the Gospel narratives of the virgin birth, the essential deity of Jesus of Nazareth, and to show the untrustworthy character of rationalistic thought on these and related themes. After examining the Incarnation and the virgin birth in-depth, Cooke provides practical lessons to be remembered in our modern lives.

This volume from the fertile pen of the book editor of the Methodist Episcopal Church will at once be recognized as the most important he has yet produced. We commend this book to all thoughtful preachers and laymen.

—Southern Methodist Review

The treatment throughout is bright, trenchant, and telling.

—Homiletic Review

R. J. Cookes (1853–1909) was educated at the East Tennessee Wesleyan University, University of Berlin, and the University of Tennessee. He became professor of New Testament exegesis and theology, vice chancellor, and acting president of Grant University. He was the editor for Methodist Advocate Journal for 12 years. His other works include Freedom of Thought in Religious Teaching, The Church and World Peace, and Christianity and Childhood.

The Creative Christ: A Study of the Incarnation in Terms of Modern Thought

The Creative Christ: A Study of the Incarnation in Terms of Modern Thought was the John Bohlen Lectures for 1921. In these five lectures, Edward S. Drown vigorously defends the divinity and the deity of Jesus Christ by examining the oneness of the Son with the Father, the reality of the Incarnation, the uniqueness of Christ, and the nature of the incarnate life. Drown asserts that the Christ for today must be interpreted in moral rather than metaphysical terms—God is not a metaphysical substance but a moral being whose essence is love.

Our author thinks clearly, courageously faces the difficulties of his subject, deals fairly with opposing views, candidly admits weaknesses in his positions, and writes in a technical scholarly language.

—Auburn Seminary Record

Edward Staples Drown (1861–1936) was a professor of theology in the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the author of numerous popular works, including The Apostles’ Creed Today, God’s Responsibility for the War, and There Was War in Heaven.

The One Christ: An Enquiry into the Manner of the Incarnation

The One Christ deals with one point of Christology alone, and that is the manner of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Weston divides his study into three parts. Part one contains some preliminary matter and the data for a solution of the problem. Part two is historical and looks at past attempts to solve the problem. Part three is made up of the theory that Weston has formulated and the serious effort to test that theory by an examination of the most important of the Christological facts with which the Gospel story has furnished us.

The present volume is the outcome of diligent study of the New Testament passages which set before us the divine personality of our Lord in its various aspects; as well as of careful investigation of the teaching of the Church Fathers upon the subject.

—The Sewanee Review

His deep reverence, his humility, his religious absorption in his theme, his anxiety to reach the truth, and his theological equipment, must secure for him the respect and esteem of those who are least satisfied either with his statement or with his solution of the question.

—Review of Theology and Philosophy

Mr. Weston has written a book well worth reading and careful pondering. He is a clergyman in Zanzibar, and pleads his absence from the libraries as a reason why his references to literature are scanty. But he is fully master of the history of this doctrine, and in a wholly reverent way explains why he has not been able to accept any of the theories of the Incarnation, ancient or modern, as adequate expositions of its nature.

—London Quarterly Review

Frank Weston (1871–1924) was Anglican Bishop of Zanzibar from 1908 until his death. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford and then ordained in 1906, Weston served a short curacy at St. Matthew’s, Westminster, before dedicating the rest of his life to missionary work in Zanzibar. His works include The Fullness of Christ and The Revelation of Eternal Love.

The Doctrine of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Gospel, like the church’s year, begins with the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. And so is it with the first placed of the Epistles. It is stated in the first pages of Revelation—it answers to the first wants of men. To this truth, Wilberforce dedicates this volume: the Incarnation is set forth as the great objective fact of Christianity. Wilberforce has divides his subject into 15 chapters:

Christ the Pattern Man; The First Fruits and Beginning of the New Creation

The Office of Christ as the Pattern Man Marked Out in Ancient Scripture

Christ the Pattern Man by Nature

Christ, the Pattern Man in Sympathy

Our Lord Is God the Word, Very God of Very God

The Unity of Person between God the Word and the Son of Man

Our Lord’s Mediation the Consequence of His Incarnation

Our Lord’s Acts of Mediation Previous to His Ascension; or His Teaching, His Example, and His Sacrifice

Of Our Lord’s Acts of Mediation, Subsequently to His Ascension, and First of His Intercession

Our Lord’s Spiritual Presence as Mediator with Men

Christ Is Present with Men in His Church or Body Mystical

Of Common Worship as a Means of Union with the Mystical Body of Christ

Of Sacraments, as Means of Union with the Manhood of Christ

Christ as Mediator the Source of Holiness and Knowledge to Mankind

Conclusion

That it is one of the most profound and elaborate books of the time, we say fairly and at once; the grasp of thought, the abundant learning, the close consistency of view, and the mastery of language which it displays throughout, are rare indeed in modern English theology.

—Methodist Review

Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802–1857), second son of William Wilberforce, was educated at Oriel College, Oxford. His works include Church Courts and Church Discipline, Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, A Sketch of the History of Erastianism, and An Enquiry into the Principles of Church Authority.

What Ye Think of Christ? Being Lectures on the Incarnation and Its Interpretation in Terms of Modern Thought

The purpose of these lectures is a simple one. For over 2,000 years the world has been confronted with a great question, “What think ye of Christ?” Every generation, every individual, must answer it according to his power. Indifference to it, though so common, is impertinent and should be impossible: for Jesus is too large a figure, and his church too real a fact, for any to disregard them. Our answer may be “the Christ of God,” or it may be “the Galilean impostor.” There is no middle way.

The Incarnation is the supreme fact of life. On it must be based, from it must be built up, the whole harmony of our being. And its importance will lie not least in this, that it is not a fact alone, but a symbol, a seal, a sacrament—a symbol that denotes the eternal union of men with God, a seal that guarantees to them the sure hope of such union, a sacrament whereby it may even now be obtained. Charles E. Ravens explores these themes, and more, in five lectures on the Incarnation.

It is radical, frank, searching, touched with fire.

—Homiletical Review

Charles E. Raven (1885–1964) was Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. An active pacifist, he belonged to the Fellowship of Reconciliation and supported the Peace Pledge Union. His works include Natural Religion and Christian Theology, Science, Religion, and the Future, and Christian Socialism.

Life in Christ: A Study of the Scripture Doctrine on the Nature of Man, the Object of the Divine Incarnation, and the Conditions of Human Immortality

Life in Christ sets forth the doctrine of immortality through the Incarnation. It is not strictly a treatise exclusively or chiefly on Future Punishment, but rather a discussion of the source and conditions of human immortality. One will miscomprehend the scope of this book who regards it merely as an argument for ‘Annihilation.’ “There are many scientific men who have concluded too hastily, that because biology reveals no future state, there is therefore neither ‘Judgment to come’ nor ‘Life everlasting.’ I meet such reasoners here, on their own ground, with ‘glad tidings,’ and proclaim to them ‘Jesus and the Resurrection.’”

Edward White (1819–1898) was a London Free Church minister and proponent of Christian mortalism, or Soul Sleep. His works include The Tone and Teaching of the New Testament, On Some of the Minor Moralities of Life, and Genesis the Third: History Not Fable.

The God-Man: An Inquiry into the Character and Evidences of the Christian Incarnation

The method of The God-Man is speculative, not dogmatic. It does not determine what is true and false in theology, but merely brings theological truths, such as are commonly held or disputed, under review, and inquiries how such truths may be understood. The aim is not to discover but to reflect and discriminate. Using the results of comparative theology, Townsend explores the Incarnation of Christ and Jesus in relation to society, art, morality, politics, and religion.

Our author’s writings make their mark, and appeal with power and effect to their correlative class of minds. He has a public grateful for his achievements, and rejoicing to hear from him often.

—Methodist Review

The author brings to his task great cultivation in everything belonging to this subject, and a familiarity with all phases of skepticism. It is a work at once fair, compact, vigorous, and popular. Full of illustrations, and also full of a holy spirit. By the Christian, it should at once be placed among his standard classics.

—Physio-Medical Recorder

It is learned without pedantry, catholic without looseness, and up with the times, and not below the truth. He is the first American writer who treats this theme with the learning of a pundit, the interest of a novelist, and the orthodoxy of a devotee.

—Zion’s Herald

L. T. Townsend (1838–1922) graduated from Dartmouth College and Andover Theological Seminary. He was appointed professor of Hebrew, Chaldee, and New Testament Greek at Boston University from 1868 to 1870, of practical theology and sacred rhetoric from 1872 to 1893. His numerous works include Credo, The Supernatural Factor in Religious Revivals, and Collapse of Evolution.

The Incarnation of the Lord: A Series of Sermons

There are many able an valuable works on the Incarnation available, but these deal chiefly with the historical, dogmatic, or ecclesiastical sides of the question. The purpose of the sermons contained in The Incarnation of the Lord is to give the biblical side and to trace the development of the doctrine in the New Testament. It explores the biblical doctrine in accordance with modern biblical methods, and provides a clearer understanding of the origin and growth of the doctrine in the New Testament times. In addition to the express teaching of the passages of Scripture, logical and practical expositions are given, and the whole is set in the religious environment of the apostolic times.

Lectures on the Incarnation, Atonement, and Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ

In this volume, Chauncey Giles presents a Swedenborgian perspective of the Incarnation, atonement, and mediation of Jesus. Lectures include:

The Incarnation: Its Nature and Necessity

Salvation through Suffering, Not by It

Salvation through Christ’s Death, Not by It

The Ascension and Mediation of the Lord

Chauncey Giles (1813–1893) was the member of the New Jerusalem Church and was elected president of the General Conference of the Church of the New Jerusalem in the United States. He was also editor of the New Jerusalem Messenger. His works included The Nature of Spirit, and of Man as a Spiritual Being, The Sanctity of Marriage, and The Second Coming of the Lord.

Lectures on the Incarnation of God

These lectures on the Incarnation were originally delivered to the Oxford Mission Sisterhood of the Epiphany. They are intended to encourage constant study of the New Testament, and to help them realize the presence and power and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lived on earth, suffered, died, rose, ascended, and ever lives at God’s right hand in our nature and for us all. Written in informal language, these lectures provide a great entryway into the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation.

Edmund Linwood Strong was priest of the Oxford Mission Brotherhood of the Epiphany, Calcutta.

The Trinity and the Incarnation

The Trinity and the Incarnation is a book about the doctrine of the Deity of Christ, and especially of the Incarnation—a doctrine which has played an immense part in the history of religion, and still does so: a doctrine which has drawn to itself the passionate enthusiasm and devotion of millions of Christian hearts. Armstrong divides his study of the Incarnation into three parts:

The Growth of the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ

Modern Pleas for the Doctrines of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ

The Heart of the Argument

A small and easily read volume in which the author, with rigid historical accuracy, reviews the sources and examines the validity of the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation.

—The Pacific Unitarian

Richard A. Armstrong (1843–1905) was the author of numerous works, including Agnosticism and Theism in the Nineteenth Century, Faith and Doubt in the Century’s Poets, and God and the Soul.

On the Incarnation

There are two ways opponents of Christian doctrine direct their attacks: the endeavor to show that Christian dogma is the result of an intermixture of Jewish and Hellenic Theosophy, and that, even if received, such mysterious doctrines can be of no practical utility. John Alexander Frere focuses on the first attack, defining and defending the Incarnation of Christ.

John Alexander Frere (1814–1877) was fellow and tutor of Trinity College and vicar of Shillington, Bedfordshire. His other works include On Scripture and Pietas et Doctrina.

The Principal Heresies Relating to Our Lord’s Incarnation: A Treatise

This volume reviews the heresies relating to the Incarnation of Christ. Only by distinguishing, and yet uniting, the records of Holy Scripture, will symmetry of faith be preserved. H. H. Wyatt examines the Gnostic heresy, the Apollinarian heresy, the Nestorian heresy, the Monothelite heresy, and more.

H. H. Wyatt (1834–1909) was educated at Queens College, Oxford, and was ordained in 1845. He served as perpetual curate for Holy Trinity, Brighton. His other works include Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship and The Gospel according to St. Matthew.

A Digest of the Doctrine of St. Thomas on the Incarnation

The Thomists teach that Jesus not only came principally to save sinners, in which all agree, but that, if there had been no sin, there would have been no Incarnation. They say that his coming was altogether remedial, and that he could not have come otherwise, so far as God’s present decrees are concerned. Further, the Thomists allow that redemption from sin was by no means the sole end of the Incarnation. In A Digest of the Doctrine of St. Thomas on the Incarnation, Humphrey explores the mysteries of the Incarnation through a Thomist lens.

William Gilson Humphry (1815–1886) was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was appointed Hulsean lecturer for 1849 and 1850, and Boyle lecturer for 1857 and 1858.

Reconciliation by Incarnation

The central theme of this volume is the reconciliation of God and the world by means of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. Simon discusses the historical relations between God and men, various theories of the Atonement, the forensic and moral views, and more, and then proposes a cosmological rendering of the Incarnation.

It is an ambitious undertaking to presume to interpret the Incarnation of the Son of God in terms of cosmical description. The author is evidently a vigorous, independent, and resolute thinker.

—Presbyterian and Reformed Review

It is refreshing to find a theological book written by a scholar who is not ashamed to theologize.

—Churchman

D. W. Simon (1830–1909) was principal of the United College, Bradford, and was assistant editor of Biliotheca Sacra for many years. His other works include The Bible an Outgrowth of Theocratic Life, Some Bible Problems, Redemption of Man, and Twice Born.

A Present Christ: Daily Ten Minute Readings for Four Weeks on the Incarnation

The object of A Present Christ is to set forth, in a plain, consecutive form, with copious Scripture references, the grand truth of our present union with Christ, through the Incarnation, and by the operations of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Each reading will occupy about ten minutes, and the whole subject is arranged under four general heads, thus giving a leading thought for every work.

John Hasloch Potter (1847–1935) was curate of St. Leonard’s, Streatham, and author of The Discipline of War, Catechizings for the Church and Sunday Schools, and My Sunday School and Children’s Service.

The Doctrine of the Incarnation

Robert L. Ottley’s aim in The Doctrine of the Incarnation is to provide a compendious and plain introduction to the doctrine of the Incarnation. In the introduction, a general survey is given of the fact of the Incarnation: its nature, different aspects, and relation to various provinces of thought and inquiry. Part two is devoted to the scriptural presentation of the doctrine. Parts three through nine consist of a historical sketch covering the period between the Apostolic Fathers and the close of the sixteenth century. In the last chapter Ottley covers the terminology of the Incarnation, the doctrine of Christ’s humanity, Christ as teacher and example, and more.

It is the attraction and easy style, the spiritual tone that is never lacking, and, above all, the historical spirit of fair and candid inquiry that gives the book a place in theological literature which it will not quickly lose.

—Churchman

Robert L. Ottley (1834–1909) was fellow of St. Mary Magdalene College and principal of the Pusey House, Oxford. His works include A Short History of the Hebrews, Aspects of the Old Testament, and The Rule of Faith and Hope.

Dissertations on Subjects Connected with the Incarnation

Dissertations on Subjects Connected with the Incarnation contains three dissertations and an appendix of four notes. The first essay is dedicated to the Lord’s virgin birth. The second essay is a discussion of our Lord’s consciousness during the period of his human and mortal life. The third essay, “Transubstantiation and Nihilianism,” describes the theological process by which Transubstantiation became a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Incarnation: A Study of Philippians 2:5–11

In Philippians 2:5–11, the true meaning of St. Paul’s words in this celebrated passage still meet with the widest diversities of interpretation. There is, however, one point on which all are agreed, namely, that the passage is of primary importance in relation to the fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion, the Incarnation of the Son of God. E. H. Gifford examines various interpretations of this important passage of Scripture as it developed over history, from Marcion to his contemporaries.

Edwin Hamilton Gifford (1820–1905) was educated at Shrewsbury and St. John’s College, Cambridge. From 1884 to 1889 he was Archdeacon of London. His works include Glory of God in Man, Voices of the Prophets, and Romans from The Speaker’s Commentary.

Some Thoughts on the Incarnation

In Some Thoughts on the Incarnation, J. Armitage Robinson presents a succinct study of the Incarnation. He examines the perplexities of the virgin birth, and the literary difficulty that St. Paul and St. John, who have taught us the most concerning the doctrine of the Incarnation, do not directly refer to the miracle.

Dr. Robinson presents in a forcible manner some reasons for our belief in the fact of the Incarnation.

The Principle of the Incarnation

The Principle of the Incarnation focuses on the relation between our Lord’s human consciousness and his omniscience, and, of the true relation of his entire humanity towards his Godhead under the conditions of the Incarnation. Looking at the concept of kenosis, he examines it from the philosophical, theological, exegetical, and historical points of view, with the object of determining the actual principle which must have ruled and did rule in the act of the Incarnation. Powell divides his study into three parts:

The Psychological Point of View

The Theological Point of View

The Evidence of the Gospels

H. C. Powell (1838–1901) was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he received his BA in 1861 and his MA in 1864. His works include The Limits of Lay Responsibility and Privilege and The Church Crisis.

Jesus Christ the Word Incarnate: Considerations Gathered from the Works of the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas

A companion volume to Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, Roger Freddi’s Jesus Christ the Word Incarnate looks at how the Incarnation is dealt with by the saint, both in the first part where he treats of the Person of the Word, and in the third part where he treats of the Incarnation itself. The matter treated covers the whole question of the Incarnation, from the eternal conception of the Word to the final coming of Christ at the last judgment.

We feel sure that by gathering together into one volume on the teaching of St. Thomas upon this mystery of the Incarnation, Fr. Freddi has conferred a boon upon clergy and laity alike.

—Dublin Review

We commend the book with all earnestness, not only to seminarians and preachers, but also to religious communities and, in fact, to all Catholics.

—American Catholic Quarterly Review

Roger Freddi (b. 1846) taught philosophy in the Scholasticate of Lavall from 1874 to 1879, and was editor in chief of the Civilta. He served as Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus.

The Preparation of the Incarnation

It is clear, both theologically and historically, that the New Testament is the continuation and fruit of the Old, and that the doctrine concerning our Lord which is essential to a right understanding, either of the Gospel history or of the theology of the Incarnation, must rest on the prophecies taken in the largest sense, in which they include the whole series of the providential arrangements of God, by means of which the actual mystery of His supreme condescension was ushered in, and the world prepared for its own astonishing elevation. This volume tells us of the preparation which was made for the coming of Christ in the world at large, in the chosen people, and in the persons more immediately connection with Christ’s advent.

This book abounds in theological and devotional passages of great power and beauty; and no one can study them without being better grounded in his faith, and filled with higher and holier thoughts concerning the mysteries with which the volume deals.

—The Month

Henry James Coleridge (1822–1893) was a professor of Scripture at the Theological College of St. Bueno’s, North Wales. He served as editor for The Month and The Messenger, for which he also wrote numerous articles and essays. His works include The Public Life of Our Lord, The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier, and The Life and Letters of St. Teresa.